


senator cody

by seraf



Series: war, illuminated [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Politics, Bittersweet, Cadets, Canon Divergence - Order 66, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Soldiers, Clone Wars, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Force Sensitive Clones, JUST, Kamino, M/M, Mando'a, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Original Character(s), Politics, Post-War, Slavery, as a concept, i wrote a fix-it can you Believe it, plo koon is no. 1 dad, senator cody, the senate can fight me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:38:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 7,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraf/pseuds/seraf
Summary: major au 1) fix-it au where the clone wars ends, and the universe struggles to put itself back together, ft. the clones and what they do.





	1. Chapter 1

the kaminoans are demanding that if the remaining cadets are to live - all those from ages 2 to 7, that the republic hadn’t bought yet - the republic pay them for each life. otherwise, even though the war is over, there will be millions of deaths -  _decommissioning,_ in their words, sterile and cold as the rest of kamino. 

(  _let them,_ says the senate, eternal in their indifference.  _the war is over. the purchase of weapons of war is only probable to incite more war._ there are mutterings, too, of shutting down the existing troopers, scrapping them like the seperatist battle droids. )

 _we are_ _ **people** , _cody says, moving his own booth out (  _the senate recognizes the representative from the gar, senator ct-2224,_ says mas amedda’s replacement in a bored tone, and cody grits his teeth. ) to the floor and staring the other senators hard in the eyes.  _you made us to die for you, and we did. we won this war for you, people of the senate. don’t we deserve the right, now, to live in the republic we were grown for and sworn to protect?_

a muttering spreads throughout the booths, and cody’s hand itches to settle at his hip, where his holster  _should_ be. privately, he thinks he’s about as suited to be a negotiator as his general is - which is, to say, despite opinion, not at all. but there’s no one else to do this. 

* * *

fives, personally, is not going to wait on the senate. with the exception of a rare few ( really, only bail and cody, and  _maybe_ senator amidala ), he doesn’t trust them, and he doesn’t trust the kaminoans, either. his hand comes up to touch where his chip used to be, and he grimaces. 

if you pull the right wires, echo had discovered as a cadet, you could make all of their living-tubes slide into the reset position; lights on and all of them extended, and it’s what fives does now, revealing a bunch of five-year-old cadets who blink sleepily at him, confused. 

 _come on, kids. you’re getting out of here._ the cadets look between each other, confused, before one of them climbs down, and with a pang, fives recognizes him - one of the cadets from the fight on kamino. it seemed so long ago.   
 _  
we’re with you, sir. lead the way._ and that has a domino ( hah ) effect, cadets climbing down from their beds to file behind him, before deciding against the straight lines and just forming a clump. 

they’re about halfway back to the ship when nala se confronts them. 

_arc-5555. where are you going with these cadets?_

_they’re coming with me,_ says fives, calmer now than he thinks he’s ever been. he fishes around in his armor, pulling out a handful of coins - his entire pension and pay, for service to the republic.  _i’ll give you 250 republic credits, but they’re coming with me._

nala se arches a brow at him.  _that would not even pay for one unit._

fives does what he’s wanted to do ever since tup was taken back here, and levels his deecee at her.  _how about this? 250 credits, and i don’t blow out whatever dark hole replaced your heart._ nala se sneers, but she carefully takes the handful of money from him and steps to the side, letting him and his trail of cadets pass. 

_come on, vod’ika’e. you’re free, now._


	2. Chapter 2

the clones, politically speaking, are a force to be reckoned with, and the senate fucking  _hates it_ ; senator cody pushes forward a bill that clears out the house - ending every senator’s term and forcing a new set of elections, with the clones who still voluntarily count as part of the gar ( who WANTED to continue to serve, not because they were forced to ) cheerfully watching over the elections on every planet to make sure there’s no voting fraud or bribery and that it’s actually a  _fair_ election

and; because the same was done to cody when the clones said that they wanted a representative - they checked his entire military record and interviewed everyone who ever worked with him and so on and so forth - they check the previous senators’ histories - if they accepted bribes or eliminated the competition using bounty hunters or something similar, they aren’t allowed to run for office again

the faces of the senate, by the time it’s put back together again, are almost  _completely_ different, and while it’s still not a perfect system, the phrase ‘when the senate makes a choice’ is no longer the equivalent to ‘when pigs fly’

the jedi are technically seperate from the republic now but obi-wan comes to almost every single senate meeting that he can, just because he not-so-secretly  _loves_ seeing cody doing this - he’s calm and cool-headed as ever, but he gets things  _done_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some of the set-up for this universe!

consider:

after the war in the fix-it au i’m half-writing, the clones all like. ‘okay we cant just leave our baby brothers on this rainy hell planet fuck that noise’ and they. initially ask some of the jedi for help

\- mace windu agrees bc he cares about the clones as people  
\- plo koon and shaak ti agree because they’re lowkey the parents of the entire fucking gar  
\- ahsoka, anakin, and quinlan vos all agree because it’s a chance to do something incredibly dumb on a giant scale possibly breaking multiple laws and involving many explosions  
\- obi-wan agrees because anakin is doing it so therefore he’s contractually obligated to

a few hundred shenanigans later, they’ve now got an army of - the equivalent of a bunch of 1-14 year olds

‘ well, now what ‘ say the jedi and older clones, who didn’t…. really think this far

so master windu is the first to just

he’s in command of like six republic cruisers and the war is  _over,_ so he clears them of like… most of the natural-born crew, and the artillery weapons, and some of the fighters, and so on, and starts setting up LOTS of beds, and turning the big empty hangars into like… big communal bedrooms or a training field or ( he refuses to call it a playground but, )

and for the most part thats what all the jedi DO so you’ve just got… this gigantic fucking fleet of ships full of 13 year olds raising a bunch of four year olds, none of whom have any idea of how to like… be normal people or kids but  _gddamit they’re going to try their best_

and suddenly theres like. THOUSANDS of care packages being sent in from citizens of the republic who were saved by the clones, either like… specifically (  _to commander cody! i think you dropped this when you helped take back our moon -_ enclosed is one of obi-wan’s lightsabers ) or just the BIGGEST boxes of hand-me-down clothes or their jars of their grandmother’s meilioorun jam bc they thought that might be helpful

and people slowly come join them like waxer and boil bring numa and her family up and cut eventually comes back for a few months with suu and his kids

and the thing is. none of them really know how to  _be_ kids or  _raise_ kids, but rex knows it’s …. working, or close to it, when he sees a bunch of -  _not cadets, they’re not cadets, they’re just children_ \- goofing around in one of the ex-hangars and calls out ‘stand to, troopers’ and they just … pause and stare at him in confusion 

 _they’re kids, cody,_ he says later, the two of them perched on a long-since powered-down strategy table on the bridge - it’s mostly used for cadet dinners or sabaac games, now.  _they’re just kids. we did it._

 

* * *

 

[ are there trips to the jedi temple creche for the youngest clones so that they can interact w ppl of different species/upbringing/culture? are battle-hardened-twenty-something soldiers supervising like … hundreds of their baby brothers on these trips? are these same soldiers struggling to acclimate to civilian life is like post-war? are their clones who get jobs to help support their brothers? (more importantly - how many clone run restaurants are there now that they can eat more than ration bars??) ]

 

* * *

 

YES THERE ABSOLUTELY ARE and the clones wouldn’t admit to it under threat of torture: the fact that some of the padawans or younglings go missing for a few months and come back speaking mando’a and maybe with a couple of tattoos is coincidence and Nothing More, genera- master yoda, i don’t know what you could  _possibly_ be implying

( the clones are ADAMANT that their cadets - they still call the kids that, force of habit - shouldn’t be raised as soldiers, with only one cultural input, and they feel the exact same way about the younglings: the jedi are wonderful and the clones have and would die for them, but the jedi view of the world shouldn’t be the  _only_ view of the world a kid gets from age three on. )

which, also - plo koon has a new human padawan. the fact that he looks like a six-year-old jango fett and ages about twice as fast as a normal human is purely coincidence, he swears. ( turns out, once you start remembering the clones are  _people,_ a lot more of them are sensitive to the force in different degrees, like you’d get in ANY species with millions of members. )

the clones are the WORST kind of ‘when i was your age’, because they can be talking to a normal 6 year old and say ‘you know, when i was your age, i was kidnapped by bounty hunters after the ship i was in got blown up’ and … not be lying. also the clones have the BIGGEST sense of just… communal sharing. there are lots of families who open up their homes or jobs to clones expecting like… one or two but instead they get twenty, from two twenty-year-olds who look forty to a bunch of excited kids who are hard workers

clone restaurants are the MOST hit-or-miss places in the galaxy because clones dont have like…a food CULTURE theyre just excited to TRY NEW THINGS ( hardcase’s restaurant has a drink special where they pour sixteen pixie stix into a blender with cheap blue raspberry vodka and fine correlian whiskey and obi-wan almost CRIED the first time he saw that )

also the thing with names sticks around like … the baby clones and cadets arent given names, they EARN them so you’ve got city-ships floating around filled with people named ‘miner’ and ‘sweetheart’ and ‘bullseye’ and ‘jinx’, and - some of the younglings, much to the jedi’s horror, pick up those names as well. aayla secura’s next padawan is named crusher and she secretly loves it


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ponds and mace!

‘ we’re still in the process of retrieving all the vode from long-standing outposts, and negotiating with some of the cis leaders to get back the captured brothers - some just sent them back in good faith, but some people are still looking to turn one last profit from the war, it seems. ‘

this isn’t the first time ponds has been in the jedi temple; he’s been working with mace since the first battle of geonosis, and most of the jedi acknowledge him as a familiar face. ( well. a familiar variation on an even more familiar face. )

one of the natural born admirals had expressed some admiration of that fact to mace, once.  _how’ve you kept a consistent team since geonosis? most generals have gone through about three batches or so of troopers by then._ his reply is simple, his expression unchanging. 

_simple, admiral. i’ve always acknowledged my soldiers as people._

( the fact that some of the jedi  _didn’t_ had been one of the things to worry him. they had an obligation not to grow attached, yes, but they also had the obligation to see these men as  _men._ )

‘ sir? you seem distracted. ‘

‘ my apologies, ponds. ‘

ponds nodded, falling silent - he’d always been a good gauge of when to just go to comfortable silence, understanding when his general didn’t want to talk. 

mace sighs and rubs his forehead, dots swimming behind his eyes, trying to ward off the headache he’s had since the war began. true, things were at a peacetime now, but people kept turning to the jedi to supervise the thousands of negotiations that still needed to be cleared out. 

they’re turning the corner, walking across the empty plaza, towards where the two cruisers had been told to land. 

‘ there is no need for weapons of war now, ‘ he said, almost to himself, and frowned, confused, when he felt  _hurt_ well up in ponds, followed almost immediately with a strange, sad acceptance. 

‘ of course, sir. ‘

_oh._

‘ ponds. ‘

‘ yes, sir? ‘

‘ you must know i’m not talking about you, right? ‘

‘ of course, sir. ‘

( ponds’ relief is palpable in the air. )

‘ ––– sir, if i may ask, what are we doing here? is there another mission? ‘

‘ not unless you want to consider it one. ‘

‘ … i don’t understand. ‘

mace shakes his head, and they turn the corner into one of the empty hangars, and he could swear he almost feels ponds’ heart stop for a second, looking out over a crowd of - not cadets. children, now. in the blue training uniforms of kamino. 

and seeing his expression, mace smiles for what feels like the first time since the war begun. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> funerals and systems of mournings for the dead.

fives is adamant about it. 

‘ they need to be  _remembered._ they died for this. don’t they deserve at least this much respect? ‘

and cody agrees, and cody pushes it forward, meets with the new chancellor after the sun sets on the senate building and coruscant glows to a new life with a thousand lights.  _you were there on some of the battles right there with us, chancellor organa. you know what the men we lost - the hundreds of thousands of men we lost - were like. they deserve something better._

organa agrees almost immediately, and with some needling, a few hours of heavy debate, the odd dropped threat or blackmail, and the occasional bribe, the motion is put into place, grey-and-red republic ships taking off again. 

 _it’ll take years,_ rex says to cody, coming to stand by his side on the bridge. 

_i know. but fives is right. they deserve something._

they go to the abregado system. they go through forests at kashyyk. walk through an old underground bunker on naboo. the coruscant guard takes it upon themselves to check through the coruscant dump and the black market, scanning for what they already know they’ll find in time. 

the same face, hundreds of times. 

bodies in states of decay. bodies left to the vacuum of space, golden eyes frozen over and skin cold to the touch. the odd scraps of plastisteel and bone, picked out of predators’ nests and pulled out of the sand of geonosis. trophies or necklaces made out of clone backpacks or braids of their black hair, snatched from bounty hunters or taken from the black market. 

( hondo ohnaka helps them freely. he jokes, at first, but there’s … something, in his eyes, when he explains he’d been doing the same thing, in a sense - scavenging the clone bodies, bringing them back to florrum. at first, it makes  commander stone grit his teeth, hands curling into fists. )

( but hondo’s face is a strange kind of quiet, and he shows stone something - rows and rows of dirt mounds, each one of them marked with  _something,_ and the handguard of their armor there. )

(  _i knew jango, once,_ he explains. _he was an_   _honorable man, and a good friend. he would have been proud of all of you._ stone is left in stunned silence for a moment, not sure what to say, before hondo’s loud grin returns and he claps stone so hard on the back his armor clatters.  _plus, clone armor sells pretty good on the market, you know! plastisteel - in very high demand these days._ )

_ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum._

passed on by word of mouth at first, and then said in systems across the galaxy, by everyone who remembers one of the vode.  _waxer,_ says numa, some of the first basic she ever learned.  _ponds,_ says boba, quietly, surrounded by his brothers now, but also his guilt.  _gearshift. matchstick. hawk. tune-up. redeye. mixer. cutup. dogma. attie. hardcase. 99._

they are remembered, so they are eternal. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mirjahaal olaror urakto parjir. 
> 
> ( recovery from trauma is hard-won. )

_mirjahaal olaror urakto parjir._

(  _recovery from trauma is hard-won._  )  
  
the war is over, and no one can believe it. least of all the ranks of manufactured men born and bred for it. what else is left for them? 

all they’ve ever known is in single-file lines and strictly rationed - their bodies, without an ounce of fat on them, from meals calculated to the exact bare minimum caloric intake they would need. their lives, with sleep schedules planned down to the minutes and their brains wired for ultimate efficiency. their lives, broken up into battles and the trips between battles. 

sure, war is chaotic, but even that starts to have a rhythm to it after awhile. 

dodge blaster bolts. focus on the enemy. keep your gun steady, keep your legs moving. follow the bright afterimage your general’s  _jetii'kad_ leaves in your eyes. hold steady when the explosions go off so near to you that you feel the heat of it scorch through your blacks. 

watch your brother get shot down. move to cover his spot. next week, there will be his replacement there, in shiny-white armor. you wait to watch them die, as well. 

but now what? their brains and bodies are built for war. most of them can’t bear to give up their armor - they feel naked without it. there’s a lack of security, for one, but also … a lack of identity. in an army where you’re one of millions with the same voice, same face, same mannerisms, your armor  _is_ who you are, a sign of where you’ve been and what makes you  _you._

 _i didn’t think …_ it’s a shiny, with one streak of orange paint to mark that they’re a part of the 212th, and cody sits with him, none of the troopers really ready to leave the barracks even when they’re free to do so.  _i always imagined dying in the field. what do i do now?_

cody shakes his head. ( it’s cody now, just cody, not  _commander._ ) he doesn’t know, either. and … the absence of an answer to that question has proven deadly, for some of their vode. with how sprawling coruscant is, and the fact that they all have easy access to weapons, it’s not hard to find a plastisteel-cast body tucked somewhere with their hands still on their deecee.

the only thing scarier than thinking you don’t have a future is the moment you realize you might.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: i packed my things and ran + rex

cut is the first one to come forwards. 

( the war is over. the clones are people. what are they going to do to him? decommission and recondition are no longer options, so he speaks, face open and honest and looking - all the vod’e are strong, but cut is tanner from less time under armor, and his body is adjusted to swinging a plow and three meals a day, built sturdy and healthy. )

rex had initially extended the message out to him.  _you don’t have to, of course. but if there are any other brothers out there like you … it might do them some good. and it’ll help show that we’re people._

cut had just looked at him, face shaded blue by the holos, and nodded, face thoughtful. 

_we may be clones, but we’re still individuals. we always have been. this war ending is just the first chance some people have had to see that. i packed my things and ran when i saw that it seemed we’d never be treated like it._

he talks about his kids. about rex, choosing not to report him, and how that one act had probably saved his life. about the scars he still had from geonosis, the way he had to get a metal implant in his knee so he was able to do farm work without chronic pain. 

he’s the first one to come forwards, but he isn’t the last. 

there’s a scattering of troopers, it seems, throughout the galaxy, who were displaced or left for dead, now coming forwards to speak their part. 

azul, the pilot shot down and assumed kia, making a new life for himself with a face too badly scarred to be recognizable as jango fett’s. 

slick, coming out with his chin jutted forwards in defiance. 

iaamir, found unconscious and sold into the slave markets of the outer rim, fighting his way free. 

top-off, left for dead on umbara. trish, on felucia. bead, on ryloth. rift, on ryloth. all of them, coming forwards and reuniting with brothers who thought they had been lost forever. 

 _thank you,_ he tells cut honestly, quietly, back on saleucami, after helping put the children to bed.  _you brought them back from the dead._

cut’s smile is broad, and he claps his hand on rex’s shoulder.  _i owed you one, vod._


	8. Chapter 8

****

nova is three years old when the clone wars grind to a halt, without ceremony for him; they aren’t told about it on kamino for another month, when the jedi come in and force the long-necks out, and the tired cadets cheer, stomping the needles and electrosphere droids into plastisteel dust, littering the no-longer sterile white hallways. 

( it takes some time for the republic to decide what do to with them. )

nova is woken by the rain. at least, he thinks it’s by the rain, it has to be. but there’s something else telling him something, like one of the trainers taking his arms and gently guiding him through the motions, so he rubs his eyes and climbs out of his sleeping tube and follows it. 

kamino is full of jedi now. 

and despite their sad eyes and their words that say that they’re here to help, plenty of the vod’e still don’t  _trust_ them, especially not when they get their hands on holopads, announcement reels, and  _read_ the word slavery and associate it with themselves. 

nova isn’t old enough to know what their lives  _should_ be. it’s all well and good for a republic he’s never seen to suddenly declare them people, but nova is three years old and has spent those three years on kamino and is still on kamino now. 

which is why he gives the jedi a wide berth, bare feet padding softly down the halls as he follows the strange pull. 

* * *

if his breathing apparatus allowed for it, high general plo koon thinks he would be shouting in frustration right now. semantics and politics, and there were still thousands of children wandering the halls of kamino in straight lines, because when they learned how to walk, they learned how to walk in file. was the republic really so vehement to erase their mistakes that they would leave kamino in isolation?

( there’s a grim answer deep in his chest, and he resolves to  _change it._ )  

for the past two hours now, he’s felt dark golden eyes watching him curiously. 

not something  _uncommon_ on kamino, given that you’d find the same eyes in jango fett’s face, but these were boring into the back of his head, and he waits until he’s alone in one of the old genetic chambers to rumble out ‘i know you’re there. do not be afraid.’

slowly, from behind one of the pillars, walks a child about knee-tall to plo, and there’s a feeling of deja vu overcoming him as he gently sinks to a knee and reaches out a hand, to be on the child’s level. ( though the boy in front of him now is equivalent to much older than little ‘soka had been. old enough that there’s a spark of distrust, wariness, in his eyes even as he reaches out to take plo’s hand. )

‘ what is your name? ‘

‘ clone cadet 5621, sir. ‘

plo just looks steadily at him until the cadet’s gaze drops, shaggy black hair falling in his face, and the faint sense of  _purpose_ that had been with him melting away. 

‘ nova, sir. ‘ he’s looking up at plo with eyes that, before all this, the kel dor would have called oxymoronic - there’s a definitive look to a child’s eyes, raw and curious and innocent, and there’s a cast all soldiers have to theirs, and the two things  _shouldn’t_ go together, but he has not seen a clone, even at this age, for which it does not. nova is frowning slightly. ‘ i’m meant to tell you something, i think. but i don’t know what. ‘

plo  _looks._ not through his goggles, but he closes his eyes and focuses. all clones have vastly different force signatures. nova’s is bright, and fiercely so, and for a moment, plo almost wonders if that’s how he got his name.  _no, the kaminoans said that they eliminated force sensitivity from their creations as a possibility. right?_

but there is a golden thread of energy linking  _him_ to the clone cadet, ghostly and hanging from nova’s small-bright presence, and when plo opens his eyes, he sees nova’s eyes focused in the same place, where the line ran through the force. 

 _so they were wrong about just one more thing._  


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: if you’re forging your own path, be prepared to light your own pyre.

cody would  _laugh,_ if he wasn’t so fucking tired of this already. 

 _cleaning house and senate,_ obi-wan had drawled wryly, stroking his beard, and cody had snorted, pouring over different holos. 

**_the criteria for senators in the reformed republic, as laid out by supreme chancellor bail organa, vice chancellor cham syndulla, senator of naboo, padme amidala, and senator-representative of the clone forces of the dissolved g.a.r., commander cody ( cc-2224 )_ **

_\- any senator who has been found guilty of the following: fraud, the taking or offering bribes, rigging what should be a fair and just election, forgery, sexual assault, abuse, neglect in personal life or of their people for personal gain, will be removed from office and not be allowed to fill a seat in the senate for a period of at least 15 years to life, depending on the severity of the crime committed and the vote of the people_

_\- as of 1 acw, every senator currently holding a seat must be cleared out of office. if they wish to regain their position, they must be innocent of the above, and must win back said seat with at least a 75% majority vote from their people._

_\- any senators suspected of putting personal benefit or capital above the good of their people will be subject to investigation._

_\- class 1 choices, where there are lives on the line, may take no more than two days to move to a vote; e.g. healthcare policies._

_\- no supreme chancellor may hold office for more than 3 years without holding a re-vote with genuine other options; as above, they must also win by a 75% majority._

_\- the d.g.a.r. forces still in commission will stop by to get an individual vote from each person of age on each republic planet. voting is mandatory._

_\- the above criteria have been laid in place and voted upon to provide a state of political security in this reformed republic, to prevent tyranny and war which were able to fester in the circumstances before._

surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, based on how pessimistic a person you were, these criteria had been met with  _intense_ backlash. cody had heard that the 501st were actually keeping a cred jar, and putting a credit in each time cody or obi-wan got a death threat. 

 _keep it up and you might be able to feed orn free taa for a year,_ he had replied to rex, rubbing his eyes. 

this time, it was the quarren senator who represented mon cala, his service expunged, stopping cody in the middle of the senate hall lobby, cody meeting his accusing gaze steadily. ( senator ackbaar, his replacement, was much better, and made for a better harmony between the republic senate and the mon cala monarchy. )

 _can i help you?_  he asks the aquatic ex-senator politely. the quarren jabs a finger aggressively in the middle of cody’s chest, but the commander doesn’t budge, returning his gaze steadily. 

_this is just a bid for political power, clone._

cody laughs, softly.  _is it? my term is under the same criteria as yours was. my military history was gone through backwards and forwards because you wanted an excuse to keep me out of the senate. all that needs to be done is actually prioritize your people, sir._

 _if you’re forging your own path, be prepared to light your own pyre,_ the quarren tells him, voice low and aggressive, and cody smiles, wry and humorless. 

 _have you ever lit a pyre, sir?_ the ex-senator looks taken aback at the question, and cody moves forwards, unrelenting.  _or used it to burn bodies?_ slowly, the ex-senator shakes his head, and cody nods, pushing past him out of the senate building, turning his head slightly and speaking over his shoulder. 

 _i have. so if i’m to be on a pyre of any sort, i’d_ rather _it be of my own making._


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> potential Beginning/kick-off event for this verse?

_i need your voice, senator._

bail organa stands before the senate, as is not unusual for him, with words prepared by a … friend? ally? friend-of-a-friend? cody is someone who he has exchanged words with maybe three times, prior to this, and who has come to his aid twice now. he owes him this much. 

mas amedda barks for order, order, and bail’s chin tilts up slightly, voice even, practiced. ‘ since it has recently come up with the matter on kiros, i would like to reaffirm the republic’s stance on anti-slavery. it has been brought forwards to me that one of the inner core worlds is maintaining an ongoing, even  _thriving_ slave trade that goes ignored by this senate. we must - ‘ 

‘ i have heard of no such thing, senator, ‘ the neimoidian senator says, bringing his seat out into the floor, and, not for the first time in the proceedings of this council, bail wonders if there’s a diplomatic way to punch him in the face. bail does not rise to the bait, simply remaining calm as mas amedda lowers a glower that could melt durasteel at lott dod, who’s pod shrinks back some with him. 

‘ as i was saying, ‘ bail continues. ‘ i have heard of this trade happening within the inner core itself. there has been some debate in the system as to whether or not it counts as slavery. so we have interviewed some of the individuals thus employed. we have disguised their voices, for now, to protect their identities. ‘ 

two recorded voices ring out in the senate; one clearly human and the other masked with some editing and fuzz. the transcript is as follows:

how much are you paid daily?  
 _are you kidding? we aren’t paid._

i see. how strenuous is the labor?  
 _there have been days where millions of us have died. it’s not unlikely you’ll be put to work and be stepping to for fourteen hours straight or standing in place for twenty._

are you allowed control of your lives?  
 _can you … break that down, maybe?_

yes, i’m sorry. do you have control of your bodies?  
 _no. we are marked with barcodes at birth, and growing up is a constant experience of poking and prodding to make sure we’ll serve better. we’re culled if we aren’t good enough._

of your minds?  
 _no. our brains are chipped to prevent us from doing what they don’t want._

what about where you live, where you go?   
 _no. we go only where they order us._

are you the legal property of these people?  
 _yes. their sigil is branded on us and on our clothes. they bought us, and they own our lives. they know it, too._

do you have your own possessions?  
 _no. our bodies aren’t even ours. we aren’t allowed to keep things._

the questions continue on like that. do you have a say in your family, your spouse? what are common punishments for you? what is the punishment of someone else if they killed one of you? 

by the time they stop, there’s a low murmur running through the senate seats, which buzzes into a roar when the recording pauses. bail stands, impassive still. he raises his hands, and the crowd hushes back to a hum. ‘ i ask that we vote now as to whether these people, by the republic’s own anti-slavery laws, are not being treated within the legal parameters of this senate. ‘ 

the board lights up green. more so than he’d expected, actually, and he smiles, to himself more than anything else, low and grim. 

his pod bobs up some, and he finds himself close to the chancellor, who is offering him a warm smile. ‘ a good point to be made indeed, senator. and now that that is settled, can you please reveal to us the planet responsible for continuing this? as a republic, we cannot allow it to continue. ‘ 

bail’s smile is sharp, around the edges. 

the recording starts back up again, shifts to include holo-footage, the voices unscrambled. there’s a clone in orange armor answering questions. then green, then red, then bluepurplecamoflaugeredredbrownorange - hundreds of the same face, speaking honestly. 

‘ coruscant. ‘ 

the senate is silent.


	11. Chapter 11

‘ i don’t like satine, no, ‘ cody says frankly, setting his helmet down by his side after running a careful finger over the visor, making sure it hadn’t cracked, and restarting the HUD display to knock it back into shape. ‘ she’s the representative for mandalore, sure. but not …  _us. ‘_

‘ because fett was one of the warrior clans that they tried to expunge? ‘ bail surmises, and cody nods, humming once absently. 

‘ in a way, i think it’s … ‘ he searches for the right word. ‘ i couldn’t tell you whether it’s ironic or appropriate, so poetic might come closest. but with the purging of the mando’ade from mandalore, they became … people without a homeland. the spirit of mandalore still exists, obviously, and the true mandos haven’t died out, but they’re … shon’ade. a drifting people. ‘

he looks back up at bail, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards. ‘ sorry to ramble, senator. ‘ 

bail holds his hands up slightly, shaking his head, and mimics cody’s cross-legged position, sitting across from him. ‘ no, no, it’s interesting. yours is a perspective not really … taken into account before this. i’m interested in hearing what you have to say, senator … ‘ he pauses for a moment, brow furrowing slightly, and cody laughs. 

‘ cody is fine. i’ve had some call me senator fett, though. better than the trade federation reps, anyway. ‘ 

‘ oh? what did they call you? ‘ 

there’s a glint of white as cody grins for a moment, broad and then gone, quick as it came. ‘ senator clone. concise and to the point, at least. ‘ bail snorts at that, despite himself.  

‘ well. senator cody. please do continue. ‘ 

cody nods amiably at that. ‘ they’re a drifting people. and - so are we, now. i’m speaking in the senate, now, and once the semantics about the personhood bill are finally settled, we’ll be  _people,_ fully. but - we don’t have a homeland, either. we are from kamino, but not kaminoan. and we consider ourselves mandalorian, but we’ve got no inclination if other mando’ade would acknowledge us as such. and - it’s not unfamiliar, i suppose, but most of us have never even seen mandalore. ‘

‘ kamino is … ‘ bail starts, and cody’s mouth becomes a slanted line, cutting him off with a nod. 

‘ a floating ethics violation, mostly. ‘ 

bail inclines his head slightly, acknowledging that - he’d been once, briefly, as the senators had been given a tour of the facilities. even then, it had made him  _uneasy._ the sterility of the place, the children standing to attention in neat rows. 

‘ so that’s why you didn’t accept the proposition to become a neutral group. ‘ 

‘ mm. we’d likely be represented by satine then, if we were, which makes it easier to overlook our voices. concord dawn and so on are under satine’s representation even though their interests and stances are almost diametrically opposed. ‘

‘ so are you planning to stay in the republic, then? ‘ 

cody smiles wryly. ‘ that’d be one hell of a move, wouldn’t it? if we broke off and joined the seppies after the republic paid good credits for us. it’d be tempting, just to see the look on amedda’s face alone. ‘ 

‘ you’re not a fan of his, i take it? ‘ 

‘ i think he’s a bastard, and i don’t trust him, ‘ cody says bluntly, shrugging with a hint of a smile again. ‘ i trust that i’m saying these things in your confidence, senator organa. you’re about the only other senator i trust ‘ 

bail laughs quietly. ‘ of course. ‘ the other sentence makes him blink, though, nonplussed. ‘ really? what about amidala? ‘ 

cody’s face is very carefully neutral. ‘ i know the two of you are friends, but we … don’t really like her. in her speech against expansion of the army, she blamed us for the cost of and continuation of the war. and it’s not the first time she’s said something to that effect. ‘ 

‘ ah, ‘ bail says, and frowns. ‘ i … suppose i didn’t think of it that way, ‘ he admits, and cody nods. 

‘ i don’t think anyone really did. she took the distaste the senate has for us already, and used it to help make her point without considering the effect it might have towards us. she tends not to look outside of her own bubble of privilege, except on a very superficial level. ‘ 

bail processes that, and cody looks at him, an unreadable expression on his face. ‘ did i go too far? ‘ 

bail shakes his head. ‘ no, i just … i must admit, most senators tend to dance around the point much more. you’re very blunt. ‘ 

‘ is that a good thing or a bad thing? ‘ cody asks, corner of his mouth tipping up. bail huffs out a laugh. 

‘ well, i personally like it. it makes you seem honest. it’s not going to make you any friends in the senate, though. ‘

a brief flash of teeth in something like a smile. ‘ well, that’s not so bad. at least i’ve got the one. ‘ 

‘ yes, ‘ bail agrees with a returning smile, ‘ you do. ‘ 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some of how this universe fell into place.

i. before cody becomes a senator, they talk to the jedi. there’s a small group of them, speaking for many - cody, monnk, ponds, fox, gree.

circles within circles, like a confrontation - the commanders shoulder to shoulder, back to back, as if they’re surrounded. they are, in one sense of the word, the jedi council watching them quizzically. but … they shouldn’t be their enemies. they are, and they aren’t.

( a juxtaposition of sorts. there has always been three sides to the universe; the jedi, the sith, the mandalorians, and they sit right in the middle - an army from a mandalorian, created by a sith, for the jedi. )

‘ you need to step down. ‘ it’s gree, who says it with all his usual tact, and there’s a moment of confusion as to who he’s saying it to, before he continues - ‘ the jedi. you can’t be generals anymore. you _aren’t_ soldiers. ‘

‘ you’re suggesting we step down, ‘ windu says, catching on a hair-second before the rest of the council.

‘ but who would replace us? ‘ kenobi asks, brow furrowed as he strokes his beard contemplatively. ‘ we never wanted this job, true, but there wasn’t anyone else who could fill the position. ‘

‘ i’m hurt, sir, ‘ cody says softly, one corner of his mouth quirking up at kenobi’s look of bewilderment.

the clone commanders stand there, and wait for the penny to drop.

‘ _oh_ , ‘ kenobi says, a moment later, looking back up to cody.

cody smiles out of jango fett’s face.

 

 

ii. of course, there are some problems with the clones becoming the leaders of the military force. not in execution, of course - if they were honest with themselves, things were actually much easier, now - but in respect, and personhood, and working with the natural-born admirals who refused to give them the credence they deserved.

luckily, now, they have the power to dishonorably discharge or demote those who do.

tarkin has been dropped somewhere to the level of sergeant within the first few weeks of them taking command of the gar back into their own hands.

 

  
 **iii.** the jedi trying to become a neutral force again is _hard_. it’s almost as if someone has been doing everything he could to make it impossible to separate them from the state. but - they aren’t generals, anymore. there is time to pull back, time to recover.

some of them aren’t happy about the new position, of course. some of the jedi had become war-forged, and they were finally able to notice that.

the mind healers are booked, working to help seal the gaps.

one of them notices something lingering in skywalker’s mind, like oil on water.

 

  
 **iv.** one of the first steps to ending this war should be negotiation. it _always_ should have been. it’s what they’re going to do now. the seperatists were … valid, in some of their reasonings for wanting to leave the republic.

corrupt, many of them say - and for the first time, they can step back and concede _maybe, maybe. maybe we should’ve been open to this from the start._

‘ but who could we reach out to? ‘ is asked, at one of the meetings between the clone commanders and jedi. it’s not a commander that answers, but one of the captains, stepping forwards slowly, voice mild.

‘ you know, ‘ chyth says, ‘ i think one of my men might know someone. ‘

 

  
 **v.** there’s another meeting of the clone commanders, some time later.

even with their new position, they don’t get a say in the senate for the most part, except to weigh in occasionally on military choices - but they still didn’t get a _say_ , just to offer their piece.

‘ you know, ‘ ponds starts, slowly, looking up at cody, ‘ i think i might have another idea. ‘


	13. Chapter 13

_satine’s leadership will never last,_ cody says, frankly, tugging off his helmet and placing it by the foot of his bunk, slipping his feet out of his boots next. they’d been free for a couple weeks now, but they still stayed in the barracks - because where the hell else did they have to go?

the small blue hologram of padme amidala frowned as he set it on his bedside table, shifting it around so he could still talk to her as he took off his armor for the night.  _i believe she has good values._

_of course you do,_ cody says wryly, tipping forwards to rest his elbows on his knees.  _senator, i don’t mean any offense, but … you come from a place of privilege. and you’ve stayed there. it’s easy for you to approve of her decisions, because you see the surface-level pacifism, and not the effect it has, down the line. think of how many times there’s been corruption in mandalore._

_well, that’s hardly satine’s fault,_ padme protested, and cody tipped his head to the side, noting the point. 

_maybe not. but her way is … to ignore and avoid the problems with her ruling. rather than make some concessions in the way she rules, she thinks of things in a very black-and-white way, and is partisan to a fault about it, and contemptuous of those who don’t follow her way. which - people are always going to. but satine’s leadership doesn’t give room for discussion or debate, so they’ve given up appealing to her entirely, and just go behind her back. it creates a system where corruption is going to flourish._

he sighs, working off the clips of his chestplate, setting them down under his bed carefully so they didn’t make a loud noise. 

_there’s no spirit there, either,_ he says, after a long moment, resting his hands on the edge of the bed and looking at the other senator.  _no history, no community, no identity. old mandalore persists because of the manda, the collective soul. we learn from a young age to act for the group, because we are part of a whole. even death watch believes they’re doing the right thing for their people. even slick thought he was helping us._

_there’s culture, though. art, music - and their architecture is truly impressive. the cities they’ve built out of the ashes of the planet are really something._

one side of cody’s lip curls up, a little bit disdainfully.  _don’t you think it’s a little disingenuous of satine, though, to create her … safe new pacifist world by driving another group of people nearly to extinction? just because she’s not holding the gun herself doesn’t mean the bolt didn’t fly._

_but the old mandalorians_ were  _violent. a problem. this is better - a rebirth._

cody shrugged.  _alright then, by that logic, i think we should wipe out the naboo. considering the war started there, and you’ve had a few sith through your system, i think it’s safest just to kill you all or exile you to an unfamiliar planet and hope you die off._

_that’s not the same thing._

_isn’t it?_

 

 


End file.
